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September 15, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiʻanapanapa

Popoalaea (ball of red clay,) a chiefess of rank in Hana district on Maui during the rule of Kamohoali‘i, is won as a reward of victory in strength-testing games by the chief Kakea (Kaakae, Makea) and he makes their home close to the crater above Kaupo at a place called Koae-kea because there the koae birds flock (or at the village of Hono-ka-lani.)

He is jealous, especially of her fondness for her younger brother. (Beckwith)

Kakae (also the name of their great-grandfather, but could have been a namesake) was more than twenty years older than Popoalaea and as time went on he grew more jealous and suspicious of her and threatened her constantly until she began to fear for her life.

Her brother, Piʻilaui, who was of a gentle nature, decided to move near her to keep her company and they would wander through the woods in search of plants and herbs for his house. They were happy in their affection for each other and forgot the jealousy of Kakae.

Then Kakae, angered by this affection of the brother and sister, threatened to kill Popoalaea.

Fearing for her life, she and her faithful companion, Manona … fled … traveling by the underground passage (for the great mountain (Haleakala) is honeycombed with caves and caverns, and lava tubes leading to the ocean.)

At last they reached the sea, the beach of Papaloa (?Pailoa.) There, where the waters have washed the rocks for centuries were to be found wild caves and deep places where only the sunbeams play and here the women thought to hide in safety.

In one of the caves they found refuge…. Kakae, searching for his wife, came to the village of Honokalaui where he heard strange tales from the fisher folk of spirits wandering on the shore at night. …

The wife hid in a cave, but the shadow of the kahili waved by the attendant betrayed their hiding place, and Kaʻakea killed them both. On the night of Ku, the water in the pool is said to run red. (Pukui)

From that day to this the caves in that region have been called Waiʻanapanapa (water flashing rainbow hues, glistening water) – for the death of Popoalaea it is said the place sparkled with rainbow stones which the gods in their pity sent … (Reportedly, as told by Emma Kalelookalani Omstead and printed in the Paradise of the Pacific.)

Today, on the night of Ku, god of justice, the water in the pool runs red. At some time each morning prismatic colors (anapa) such as are sacred to divine chiefs play over the waters of this pool as proof of her innocence.

The water of the pool makes even a dark skin look white when immersed in it. (Beckwith)

A State Park was established at Waiʻanapanapa, with campground and trails.

September 14, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

250 Years Ago – George Washington Address to the Inhabitants of Canada

After Great Britain emerged victorious in the French and Indian War, a clash with France over territory in North America, in 1763, it faced a difficult task: managing Quebec, a sprawling former French colony where the Catholic majority had little in common with their new Protestant rulers.

To heal the wounds of the war and streamline governance, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act in 1774. The legislation’s compromises were significant. The criminal law code became British, while civil and property law in the province continued to follow the French model.

The act largely preserved Quebec’s feudal land distribution system, and it allowed residents the right to freely practice “the religion of the Church of Rome,” so long as they stayed loyal foremost to Britain’s king, George III.

The act’s most controversial reform, however, was expanding the official boundary of Quebec to the Ohio River Valley, which conflicted with prominent American colonists’ property interests and their hopes of expanding on the Western frontier.

Many residents of the lower Thirteen Colonies took the Quebec Act as yet another instance of “ministerial tyranny” akin to the Coercive Acts, which were passed that same year to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party and other incidents of unrest in the city.

The delegates of the First Continental Congress wholeheartedly condemned the Quebec Act—and Quebec itself—in September 1774 as “dangerous in an extreme degree to the Protestant religion and to the civil rights and liberties of all America.” (Wizevich, Smithsonian)

On about September 14, 1775. George Wasington delivered an address “To the Inhabitants of Canada”.

“Friends and Brethren,”

“The unnatural Contest between the English Colonies and Great-Britain, has now risen to such a Heighth, that Arms alone must decide it. The Colonies, confiding in the Justice of their Cause, and the Purity of their Intentions, have reluctantly appealed to that Being, in whose Hands are all human Events.”

“He has hitherto smiled upon their virtuous Efforts—The Hand of Tyranny has been arrested in its Ravages, and the British Arms which have shone with so much Splendor in every Part of the Globe, are now tarnished with Disgrace and Disappointment.—”

“Generals of approved Experience, who boasted of subduing this great Continent, find themselves circumscribed within the Limits of a single City and its Suburbs, suffering all the Shame and Distress of a Siege.”

“While the trueborn Sons of America, animated by the genuine Principles of Liberty and Love of their Country, with increasing Union, Firmness and Discipline repel every Attack, and despise every Danger.”

“Above all, we rejoice, that our Enemies have been deceived with Regard to you—They have perswaded themselves, they have even dared to say, that the Canadians were not capable of distinguishing between the Blessings of Liberty, and the Wretchedness of Slavery; that gratifying the Vanity of a little Circle of Nobility—would blind the Eyes of the People of Canada.—”

“By such Artifices they hoped to bend you to their Views, but they have been deceived, instead of finding in you that Poverty of Soul, and Baseness of Spirit, they see with a Chagrin equal to our Joy, that you are enlightned, generous, and virtuous—that you will not renounce your own Rights, or serve as Instruments to deprive your Fellow Subjects of theirs.—”

“Come then, my Brethren, unite with us in an indissoluble Union, let us run together to the same Goal.—We have taken up Arms in Defence of our Liberty, our Property, our Wives, and our Children, we are determined to preserve them, or die.”

“We look forward with Pleasure to that Day not far remote (we hope) when the Inhabitants of America shall have one Sentiment, and the full Enjoyment of the Blessings of a free Government.”

“Incited by these Motives, and encouraged by the Advice of many Friends of Liberty among you, the Grand American Congress have sent an Army into your Province, under the Command of General Schuyler; not to plunder, but to protect you; to animate, and bring forth into Action those Sentiments of Freedom you have disclosed, and which the Tools of Despotism would extinguish through the whole Creation.—”

“To co-operate with this Design, and to frustrate those cruel and perfidious Schemes, which would deluge our Frontiers with the Blood of Women and Children; I have detached Colonel Arnold into your Country, with a Part of the Army under my Command—”

“I have enjoined upon him, and I am certain that he will consider himself, and act as in the Country of his Patrons, and best Friends. Necessaries and Accommodations of every Kind which you may furnish, he will thankfully receive, and render the full Value.—”

“I invite you therefore as Friends and Brethren, to provide him with such Supplies as your Country affords; and I pledge myself not only for your Safety and Security, but for ample Compensation. Let no Man desert his Habitation—Let no one flee as before an Enemy.”

“The Cause of America, and of Liberty, is the Cause of every virtuous American Citizen; whatever may be his Religion or his Descent, the United Colonies know no Distinction but such as Slavery, Corruption and arbitrary Domination may create.”

“Come then, ye generous Citizens, range yourselves under the Standard of general Liberty—against which all the Force and Artifice of Tyranny will never be able to prevail. G. Washington.” (National Archives)

On New Year’s Eve, 1775, Colonists stormed Quebec City. Of the roughly 500 soldiers in the contingent, 35 were killed, 33 were wounded and 372 were captured in the failed assault. (Wizevich, Smithsonian)

September 13, 2025 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Elmer Ellsworth Conant

“At five-thirty o’clock in the morning of June 20, 1923, (EE Conant,) manager of a Molokai ranch, walked into the garage at his home in Kaunakakai, entered his automobile, and stepped on the starter. The engine failed to turn over.”

“As he swung open the door to step out and investigate, a shattering roar shook the village. Townspeople flocking to the scene found roof and walls torn and twisted, top and hood of the car hurled into the yard, and fragments of steel imbedded in walls fifty feet away. “

“Conant, blackened and mangled, lay dead. A crumpled bit of steel had pierced his heart. “

“The method of murder had been simple. Dynamite had been concealed under the car and attached to the steering post. One end of the wire from the electric starter had been disconnected and joined to the steering post so as to cause a spark, igniting the fuse which detonated the bomb.” (Gessler, 1937)

Some suggest the killing related to water, the day before he died, Conant had finished the 6-million gallon Kawela Intake water system, moving water to West Molokai, 20-miles away; others suggest it related to the suspension of open deer hunting on the ranch.

Further investigation of Conant’s death failed to develop anything but a mass of conflicting rumors, and the case was dropped. The matter remains unsolved.

Elmer Ellsworth Conant (son of John Munson Conant and Sophia Lyon) was born March 27, 1860 in Syracuse, New York. He married Surreney Ann Kananiopuna Neal on June 16, 1883 in Koloa, Kauai, daughter of John Daniel Neal and Haliete Pahukoaonalii Nakapaahu. They had 8-children:

Robert Wayne Kapuaʻalaonaona Conant b: 25 May 1884; John Neal Kaleaaloha Kukele Conant b: 30 Jun 1886; Ellsworth Thomas Kailipoloahilani Conant b: 12 Feb 1888; Lena Annett Kaualani Nawaiwawae Conant b: 22 Feb 1889; Elmer William Nahinu Conant b: May 1891; Nellie Kahululani Pahapuokalani Conant b: 30 Jun 1893; Fred Blakeslee Ku’uhaealoha Kukapu Conant b: 17 Nov 1895 and Raymond Kueilipoilani Conant b: 25 Jun 1901.

In 1892, Conant was noted as manager and bookkeeper of Waimea Sugar Mill Company. In 1899, the ʻEleʻele Plantation, McBryde Estate and Koloa Agricultural Company merged to create the McBryde Sugar Company.

Conant was its first Manager. He also was Postmaster (the post office was at the McBryde plantation office,) as well as tax assessor and collector.

Under a guardian dispute at Parker Ranch, for a while (about 1904-1906,) Conant was receiver of the Parker Ranch estate. “Judge Mathewman has appointed EE Conant as receiver, during the pendency of the petition for a petition of the property. Conant in the capacity of receiver, is now the manager of the Parker ranch”. (Hawaiian Star, June 27, 1904)

But he seemed to focus on sugar. Hans Peter Faye, of Kekaha, Kauai, whose properties there were leased from the government and were subject to withdrawal for homestead purposes, submitted a proposal to the Molokai Ranch Directors to lease land on Molokai for a sugar plantation. The Directors accepted his proposal.

Faye engaged the services of Conant to develop water for the plantation. It was decided by the Directors that Molokai Ranch would not only lease the land but would pay for the expense of the water development and Mr. Conant’s salary.

For the next three years, 1919 to 1921 inclusive, Conant prospected for well-water at various sites, beginning at Palaʻau and progressing eastward.

The water at Palaʻau had a salt content of ninety grains. At Kaunakakai the water held about fifty grains; at Onini thirty; at Kanoa twenty-two and at Kawela about two grains. Mr. Conant developed a total of six million gallons, containing twenty-eight grains of salt, suitable for irrigating sugar cane. (Cooke)

At about that time, James Munro, manager of the Molokai Ranch, resigned and Conant was appointed acting manager of the ranch.

The next year, Conant was killed in his garage at Kaunakakai and died in his wife’s arms. His son, Fred B Conant, was promoted to be assistant manager in charge of the cattle department. (Cooke)

September 12, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hawaiian Room

“(I)f you are really lucky … If you are one of those of whom refreshing and enchanting things sometimes happen. You will have wandered into the Hawaiian Room at the Lexington …” (Tucker, Man About Manhattan, June 14, 1938)

The Hotel Lexington (on Lexington Avenue and 48th Street, New York City) was completed just six months before the market crash of 1929.

The iconic hotel became an instant favorite for global leaders, celebrities, business executives and some of America’s most famous sports icons including Joe DiMaggio, who famously lived in a penthouse suite during his whole career playing for the Yankees. (Lexington)

However, in the basement, hotel management realized they were stuck with a large and useless lower dining room. In 1932, they opened the SilveL Grill, featuring bandleaders Ozzie Nelson, Little Jack Little, Artie Shaw and Carl Ravel.

Popularity waned, and hotel owners were in need of a show that would attract wealthy society members and keep the hotel in the black. The manager decided to experiment for a few months with all-Hawaiian entertainment in a cafe decorated with South Sea motifs and featuring Polynesian food.

At the time, Hawaiian and Polynesian cultures were growing in popularity and interest across the country. However, the creation of the Hawaiian Room was still a bold move not only because of the Great Depression, but also an increasingly complicated global scene as world conflicts were escalating in both Asia and Europe. (Akaka)

On June 23, 1937, the Hawaiian Room opened in the Hotel Lexington, the first major showroom for live Hawaiian entertainment in the US and the one that became the most renowned.

The Room itself was the first of its kind and featured a glamorous dining room with island decor, large dance floor and American orchestra, and a Hawaiian music and floor show that was unmatched in its professionalism, elegance and beauty.

It was New York after all – the land of Broadway shows, fast-paced lifestyles, ethnic diversity and celebrities. (Hula Preservation Society)

The initial band, named “Andy Iona and His Twelve Hawaiians,” included Andy Iona (born Andrew Aiona Long,) composer-singer Lani McIntire and Ray Kinney as featured singer.

Kinney assembled the dance troupe in Honolulu: the solo dancer Meymo Ululani Holt, plus Pualani Mossman, Mapuana Bishaw and Jennie Napua Woodd – they became known as the “Aloha Maids” – they became the faces of Hawai‘i in New York.

While numerous American showrooms featured live Hawaiian entertainment, the Hawaiian Room served as the industry standard to beat. In many cases, performers in other American showrooms appeared at the Hawaiian Room sometime during their careers.

A few other notable entertainers who helped “make” the Room over the years include Alfred Apaka, Aggie Auld, Keola Beamer, Eddie Bush, Johnny Coco, Leilani DaSilva, Ehulani Enoka, Leila Guerrero, Meymo Holt, Keokeokalae Hughes, Clara Inter “Hilo Hattie,” Alvin Isaacs, Momi Kai, George Kainapau, Sonny Kalolo, David Kaonohi, Nani Kaonohi, Kui Lee, Sam & Betty Makia, Tootsie Notley, Lehua Paulson, Telana Peltier, Luana Poepoe and Dennie Regore. (Akaka)

The venue became “the place to be” for celebrities in New York City, and it was the people who worked in the Hawaiian Room who made it such a success. Because of their talents, island ways and authentic aloha many were able to enjoy a piece of Hawaiʻi, even if they were on another “island” 5,000 miles away. (Akaka)

The Hawaiian Room was a place where dancers could establish viable careers. In the Islands, career options were limited. Hula dancers could earn between $50 and $100 a week, compared with $4 to $10 a week in the pineapple canneries.

For many Hawaiian women, hula presented a dream ticket out of Hawai‘i, promising fame, glamour and middle-class status difficult for them to achieve in the plantation and service industries. (Imada)

They became minor celebrities as performers in what was referred to in New York papers as an “off-Broadway show not to be missed.”

Big-time celebrities like Arthur Godfrey and Steve Allen sought out the Hawaiian Room entertainers to be on their television shows. The Hawaiian Room dancers were featured on the very first broadcast of color television in the United States. (Hula Preservation Society)

“They say (dancer, Pualani Mossman) is the most photographed girl in the Islands …” She became known as the “Matson Girl” for her pictures in Time and Life magazines.

Although the Hawaiian Room was in New York, it played an ever important role in the spread of Hawaiian culture across the continental United States, as well as the development of Hawaii’s major industry … tourism.

The nightly exposure of business executives, celebrities and New York’s working men and women to the Hawaiian songs, sceneries and hula at Hotel Lexington was sure to have put dreams of a Hawaiʻi vacation in the minds of more than a few over the years. (Akaka)

Over the course of its 30-years, millions of people from all over the world experienced the Hawaiian Room, its melding of Hawaiian music and hula traditions with current American musical trends, and its people of aloha. (Hula Preservation Society)

In 1966, a hula dancer at another venue was seriously injured when her grass skirt caught on fire. That prompted new federal workplace fire laws. (KITV) The Hawaiian Room closed that year because the needed fireproofing renovations were too expensive. (honolulu)

September 11, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Normal School

One of the first ‘Normal’ schools, the École Normale Supérieure (“Normal Superior School,”) was established in Paris in 1794. Based on various German exemplars, the school was intended to serve as a model for other teacher-training schools. Later it became affiliated with the University of Paris. (Britannica)

On July 3, 1839, three young women reported to Lexington, Massachusetts, with hopes of attending the first state funded school specifically established for public teacher education (what were then referred to as ‘normal’ schools.)

A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name. Most such schools are now called teachers’ colleges.

In Hawaiʻi, as early as 1845, a Department of Education was organized with its own Minister. Two years later, the position of Inspector General of Schools was established.

In 1895, it was decided that the work of instructing the teachers already in the employ of the Department should be undertaken by the Summer School and the preparation of those wishing to enter the service, by a special Normal class in the High School.

This class has developed into the Normal and Training School, the only Normal School in the Territory (1895,) it trained elementary school teachers; it was first housed at Honolulu High School (former Hale Keōua, home of Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani – the site of the present Central Middle School.)

James L Dumas was hired by the Department of Public Instruction to head the government’s normal school (he had been teaching teachers at Lahainaluna.) In his initial year, he had 29-students, ten of whom were only 16-years of age and with an eighth-grade education.

At his request, the Board of Education agreed to build a ‘practice school’ for his teacher students; two classrooms were added to the site as a training school for the normal school. A later disagreement with the Board led to Dumas’ resignation. (Logan)

In 1899, the Normal and Training School moved to the old Fort Street School. This change of location made possible a much needed enlargement of the training department as well as a considerable development of the other departments.

The course was changed from a two years’ course to a four years’ course for graduates of the grammar school and a one year course for graduates of a regular four years’ course in a High School. Certificates were granted to those completing three years of the four years’ course. (TN&TS, 1910)

In 1900, when Hawaiʻi became a territory of the US, the position of Minister of Education became that of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Although changes in the school system have taken place from time to time, the large administrative unit as a whole, has remained. (Wist, 1922)

Honolulu Normal and Training School relocated to Lunalilo and Quarry streets in 1905 and was given a new name, Territorial Normal and Training School. (TGI)

The purpose of the school was (a) to aid the student in acquiring the art of teaching by practice under intelligent direction, and to instruct him in the science of education; (b) to teach the subject-matter of the elementary and High School courses, and such subject-matter of collegiate rank as will give background for the work of teaching and supervision. (TN&TS)

The Normal and Training School occupied two buildings; the main building was 100 by 70 feet and had three stories and a basement. It is of Flemish bond brick with terra cotta trimmings.

On the first floor are six class rooms, an office, a supply room, a library, and a cloak room. On the second floor are eight class rooms, and on the third two class rooms and an assembly hall.

The Manual Training building, near the main building, had two rooms. One room was devoted to woodwork and the other to domestic science. There are benches for about twenty pupils per period in the woodworking room, and accommodations for the same number in the room devoted to domestic science. (TN&TS, 1910)

Although the program had grown steadily, it had not been able to furnish enough teachers to keep pace with the rapidly increasing population. The Department appointed approximately 200-new teachers yearly; about half of these were trained locally in the Normal School, the other half being imported from the mainland US. (Wist)

Since the Normal School trains elementary teachers only, the University opened a department of education for the training of high-school teachers, all of whom had previously been imported. (Wist, 1922)

“During the past year (1924,) the Territorial Normal School was placed on the list of accredited teachers’ colleges of the United States. It is rapidly becoming an institution that will rank with the best mainland normal schools.”

“High-school graduation is the entrance requirement for all students. The two-year Course is equivalent to two years of college work. (Report of the Governor, 1924)

“In 1929, the Territorial Normal School, which had outgrown its buildings on the side of Punchbowl, acquired land at the corner of University Avenue and Metcalf Street, and a building plus an annex were erected.”

“A large campus with several buildings was planned for the site. However, in 1931, the legislature merged the TNS with the University (of Hawaiʻi,) creating the Teachers College (TC) … (in 1951) the Regents named the TC Building Wist Hall.” (UCLA)